Happy Easter Everyone!
And a few of my favorite pics from his 6 month birthday 🙂
Category: Uncategorized
The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
Finished 3-31-11, rating 4/5, thriller, 639 pages, pub. 2009
“Traditionally, ma’am, it was used as an invitation.”
“An invitation…to what?” she demanded.
Langdon looked down at the symbols on his friend’s severed hand. “For centuries, the Hand of the Mysteries served as a mystical summons. Basically, it’s an invitation to receive secret knowledge-protected wisdom known only to an elite few.”
Sato folded her thin arms and stared up at him with jet-black eyes. “Well, Professor, for someone who claims to have no clue why he’s here…you’re doing quite well so far.”
Chapter 17
Robert Langdon, famous symbologist of the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons, is back. Langdon has been invited by an old friend, current head of the Smithsonian Institute, to give a lecture in Washington DC that very day. Short on time, but with an old lecture ready to go he boards a private plane and is off. Only when he arrives at the Capitol for his lecture he is not greeted by a welcoming crowd, but a hand. The dismembered hand of his friend was left there to convince Langdon to help a madman in exchange for his friend’s life. So, begins another stressful all-nighter in the Langdon saga.
I appreciated that this one utilized Washington DC and its rich history. I love that city and had fun imagining Langdon racing around on familiar territory. This book was a manual for the Freemasons, their beliefs and influence on the fathers of the country. It was also a nice introduction to the Noetic Sciences, which I knew nothing about, but found very interesting. This was another controversial look at history from Dan Brown and one that may have you looking at the 2012 prophecy about the end of the world in a new light.
Having read the first two Langdon books and liked them both, I confess that this was not as good. There was drama and a badass bad guy, but the situations Langdon found himself in never felt dire. The CIA kept saying finding the bad guy was a matter of national security, but it took way too long to find out why. The bad guy himself painted quite a mental picture since he was covered in tatoos from head to toe and I actually liked that part of the story. Once again, Langdon was all about solving clues and racing against the clock to find the next piece of the puzzle and that was fun. But maybe it was because I didn’t find the Freemason conspiracy story as interesting as Dan Brown did. He included a lot of detail and not all of it really moved the story forward.
I think if you enjoyed the first two that you will also enjoy this one, but for me it is the weakest of the three. And the ending, while not bad, wasn’t really satisfying. I’m assuming Tom Hanks will be back on the big screen as Langdon and I look forward to it, if only because I want to see DC in all of her glory.
Surviving Survivor
Jason and I have watched every season of Survivor. In the beginning the psychological drama appealed to me and over the years it has turned into a guilty pleasure. We each pick who we think is going to win after the first episode and we’ve actually gotten it right quite a few times, although not lately.
A few of my favorite winners- Ethan from Africa, Tom from Palau, Yul from Cook Islands, and Bob from Gabon. They all showed that you can be a nice guy and still win. Most of the time I think the women win for all the wrong reasons and the women who deserve it don’t make it to the vote, but the one exception is Parvati who won Micronesia. She totally deserved it.
This year they are bringing Russell back, again, and I am not happy about it. He almost made me stop watching during his first season. There is just to little time to waste any of it watching such a repulsive guy tell me how great he is. But moving on.
The next season starts February 16 and my pal and hopefully yours, Molly (the Bumbles), has formed a fantasy league and I’ve decided to join her. I’ve never done a fantasy league so I have no idea what I’m doing, but I signed up and picked my tribe of four. Would you like to join in the fun with Molly? I think you should. Here’s her post inviting you. Hope to see you in fantasy land!
I’m Thankful
Just a few things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend…
Alone time (maybe it’s because there is so little of it these days :))
Books (seems too easy)
Catalogs/Online shopping
Driving (after a month of being housebound I have me freedom back!)
Evening walks
Friends, especially all those who have been so generous to Gage this past month
Gage!
Hair color, just got the gray out after not coloring for the pregnancy.
Ice cream sundaes were a real staple this past year.
Jason
Kisses
Letters, cards or any other personal item I take out of the mailbox.
Max
New Clevelanders (the welcome club I’ve belonged to for 8 years)
Ohio State football. Go Bucks! Big 10 Champs again.
Parents
Quality chocolate has been a diet staple this month.
Relatives
Scout
Take out/Drive through/Anything I don’t have to cook
Unexpected kindness
Visitors
Wine
X-Large clothing (my wardrobe must have for the past 5 months)
You. If you’re reading this I’m thankful!
Zoup! Gage’s first and only ‘restaurant’ so far. Jason almost finished his soup before Gage needed to step out 😉
Baby Gage is here
Came into the hospital Saturday night and Gage came into the world 60 hours later via c section. Will be in the hospital till at least Friday morning. I’ll be posting pics then.
He is, of course, perfect.
Gage Michael was 6 pounds, 19 3/4 inches and is a Libra just like Mom.
More details to come when I’m home, not drugged and more sane. Thanks for all of your good wishes 🙂
Half Year Round Up
So, we’re halfway through the year and time to take a look at how I’m doing on my goals and what’s been going on around here on this blog. Let me start by mentioning my two favorite posts, not because of what I wrote, but because of what you did. (After 14 Years a Pregnant Pause, Morning Sickness and My Google Reader) The response to my pregnancy has been heartwarming and I thank you all for taking the time to wish us well. The Little One should weigh about pound now and be the size of a small doll. Is it time to start getting nervous?
My reading goal for the year is 105 books with 12 of those being non-fiction. I could be doing better. I’ve only read 44 books and 2 of those were non-fiction. I’m usually a little OCD about goals and challenges, but I’m trying to cut myself some slack. I’ve got other things going on these days and need to keep reading in perspective. But even as I type that my mind is whispering, “You can do it. No problem.” So, we’ll see.
There have been a few changes. I’ve started posting my weekly quizzes on Tuesdays and offering a few prizes. Thank you to everyone who participates. I have fun and hope you do too! As a bonus I discovered that if you Google ‘book quizzes’ I’m the first thing that pops up and I’m starred even. I admit I got a kick out of that 😉
I’m doing my 5 word movie reviews every month and invite you all to try it and link up. I’ve only done a few author interviews and although I love doing them I don’t have the time to focus on that right now. They do take quite a bit of time.
I asked you all to vote for 50 of the books I’d read from my own shelves this year and 72 of you voted. Of those 50 I’ve read 16 for the RYOB Challenge
My two favorite so far have been The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly (to be reviewed tomorrow) and Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. So far, you’ve done a great job choosing books 🙂
I’ve read 29 out of 52 for this challenge, so I’m not doing too bad. So far, my favorite read from this challenge is Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman.
For some crazy reason I signed up to read 35 new authors this year and I’ve managed 19. My favorite (aside from the ones I’ve mentioned above) is Marisa de los Santos.
I’m to read 9 books with 9 different colors in the title for this one and have read 3. I loved Red Light and Black Water, both by T. Jefferson Parker.
I’ve read 2 of 4 short story collections and didn’t really love either one, so I’m hoping the next 2 will be great.
Of the 51 (with Washington DC) I’ve read from 18 states. So far, New York has been the most visited with 8 trips.
I’m looking forward to the second half of 2010 🙂
Book Problem Year 3
Another year, another evaluation of my unread book selection. Here’s my stack of unread books in May 2008.
And last year I recreated the stacks (I added 49, but read or gave away 49) and took this photo
So, now it’s time to fess up. I did not do so well at keeping my unread book pile from continuing to take over the house. I started with 369 books, I read or gave away 41, but brought 79 new titles into the house that I haven’t read yet. Yes, that’s a total of 407. Here’s the visual…
You can see that even Max is a little shocked!
But there’s more book news that makes this book problem more serious. You know when you leave home and boxes of your stuff get packed away in your parent’s basement? Well, at the age of 38 I finally convinced my Dad that I could handle the boxes (I mean we have a big basement now too ;)), so over the holidays he brought box after box of stuff.
Wanna guess how many books were in these boxes?
Here’s a look at the new visual with the books in front.
I refuse to count these and add them to my total. Whatever I don’t read or get rid of by next year I’ll add.
But you will get to benefit from these extra books I now have. Over the next week or so I will be offering up free books from these boxes. Take a look at the book selection, tell me which one you’d like to have in a comment and on June 2nd I’ll pick a winner or two from each day and he or she will receive the book of their choice. PLEASE enter every day. They are used books, but there are some good titles in there.
By recreating my stacks of unread books every year it does hold me in check for a good six months. I don’t plan on buying books – well, except for baby – and I won’t enter giveaways unless the book is on my wish list. I need to be good because I have a feeling when baby comes my reading may take a hit for a while.
So, do you want to post a picture of your To Be Read pile or piles? Leave a link in the comments and I’ll add you here. Come on, let me see that I’m not alone!
Morning Sickness and My Google Reader
I have spent the better part of the last 2 months on the couch or sleeping too much in bed due to the never-ending awfulness that is morning sickness. Some women are fortunate enough to never experience it. That’s not me. Anyway, for the first time in those 2 months, I felt human for a WHOLE DAY! That was yesterday (today is another story, but let’s stick with the positive).
I was able to spend a few hours at the computer and for the first time since I got back from San Francisco in early March MY GOOGLE READER IS UNDER 1000 POSTS!! Okay, it’s at 957, but I have to start somewhere. I cannot Mark All As Read. It’s a personal defect, I know, but I might miss something! I’m hoping to get it to under 100 by the time we leave for France.
Speaking of that on Tuesday will be the last quiz for this round and I’ll announce two winners Wednesday night, so be sure to get your answers in early. I’ll be bringing the gifts for the winners back from France. We’ll be going to the French Open, so if the winner is a tennis fan maybe I could kidnap Rafe Nadal 🙂
You won’t want to miss my posts while I’m gone. I’m giving away books every day 🙂
If I check my Reader right now there better not be 1000+ posts already!
After 14 years a pregnant pause
Jason and I have been together for over 14 years and we decided that we were finally secure enough in our relationship to move forward. And the reason why I have been so absent from visiting you all regularly is that this step forward has made me sick for the past month, hence the pause in the title. Obviously, I’m talking about the little one I’m cooking up right now. Jason and I are just into our second trimester and couldn’t be happier! Well, okay, once the morning sickness completely goes away I might be a little happier. By the time this baby comes I will be 39. I find that so hard to believe. Where have the years gone? We do not plan on finding out if it’s a boy or a girl, but we are always open to name suggestions 🙂
I had a dream about my Google Reader last night, so I will be trying to make some progress on catching up with all of you now that I’m starting to feel better.
We have a winner…
and it is…SPAV!
Congratulations Spav and thanks to all who entered.
Stacy's Books 